And this is just to raise money on her way to running a half marathon in May. Talk about dedication to eradicating blood cancers!

“The cause is close to my heart for several reasons,” Erin writes in an e-mail.

“I’ve lost two family members, and very close friends of mine lost their daughter at the tiny age of 6. Finding a cure is important to me, and I’ll do what I can to help!”

So, Erin gathered her team from the #yegmusicclub (a local collection of music lovers) and they got to planning. In order for her to participate in the run, she needs to raise $3250 in donations for Leukemia & Lymphoma Society of Canada.

I am not kidding around, Edmonton. There are so many great shows tonight, your ears are going to be hungover tomorrow. (You may also be hungover, depending on how you party.)

Churchill Square is going to be hopping all weekend, since it’s Huddle Town for the Grey Cup. You can catch Helix right about now, George Canyon will be there later! Thankfully, it’s not even freezing cold anymore.

We have come upon our first weekend in the post-2010 election era. I expect candidates and councillors to be sleeping in the next couple of days.

There are a number of things happening if you’re not napping.

On your way home tonight you could stop in at The ARTery and raise money for HIV Edmonton while enjoying the end of the work week. Friday night, Dan Hill plays the Shaw Conference Centre for a Canadian Diabetes Association fundraiser. Justin Rutledge is at the Haven Social Club. Library Voices swing into the Avenue Theatre.

One event I hadn’t heard of, before checking ShareEdmonton, is the Raas Garba Festival, which looks to be colourful, and features events with people from Edmonton, Calgary, Fort McMurray, and Vancouver. The festival is a celebration of the culture of people from the west Indian province of Gujurat.

Boring headline aside, this weekend has the potential to blow your mind.

Sometimes all you need is a good beer, a place to be, and a phone. The phone is in case you need to find a better party.

East meets West is this weekend, which is where you get the best of Edmonton’s Chinatown and Little Italy. And this year kicks off with Karibuni Afrikafest (happening now!). Three days, three cultures, three times the fun.

Good thing I check ShareEdmonton for events. I’d have never heard about the Outdoor Nite Market otherwise. That’s tonight (Friday), on 107 Avenue, and it’s got a little of everything. The best item it has is a reason for people to be out on the street at night, which encourages good things.

This weekend, Hawrelak Park has the first-ever Open Sky Music Festival. It’s all about surf rock, island rock and reggae. The weather may not say summer, but that music sure does. (If the festival’s website isn’t working for you, there are details at ShareEdmonton’s event page.)

Telus Field will be hosting a music event Saturday too. Rock The River hits our city.

FC Edmonton gets its final kicks at its warm-up season Saturday. The team is hosting Miami FC. I wonder if they’re playing for the right to have FC in their name? There can be only one!

The Eskimos are home to the Saskatchewan Roughriders. Shouldn’t we be going to the games this season, so as to not appear as bandwagon jumpers if they get good again?

Over at the River Cree Casino there’s also the All-In for Diabetes Poker Tournament. Buy-in is $250 and you can claim $100 for knocking out bounties, such as CTV’s Daryl McIntyre. If you bring a bag of clothing as a donation you can get extra chips too.

Some days, I won’t lie to you, I’m just looking around for stuff to highlight as a good event in our city.

Haydamaky

Most of the time it’s because I’m not going to mention the same week-long event again and again. Or I’ve missed a fun event by a few hours (like pancake breakfasts, I always forget about early morning stuff).

But I always find something. Because there’s always something happening in this city.

Today I’ve found one, thanks to ShareEdmonton and YEGLive.ca, that I didn’t know about. But it sounds like a good time.

They both play what would be considered somewhat traditional Ukrainian music, but turned on its head, mixed up with rock (and other forms of music) and thrown out there in a new, eclectic, exciting mix. I’ve been grooving to their MySpaces while writing this.

If you’re feeling patriotic todaycan get into the Canadiana all over the city. There’s the Silly Summer Parade down Whyte Avenue, Churchill Square is busy with The Works and City Hall has Canada Day activities, the Alberta Legislature is all about our country’s 143rd birthday, and Mill Woods always throws a huge party. For a complete listing of all of Edmonton’s Canada Day fun head to the City’s website.

Now, because Canada Day is Thursday this year it’s going to throw the week totally off for some people. I’ll be be back at work Friday, but you might not be. So let’s just call this a long-weekend and see what’s going on Thursday-Sunday.

As I noted above, The Works continues in Churchill Square, and various installations around downtown.

Meanwhile…over at the “tentue” you’ve got Kim Mitchell and Sass Jordan Friday night. You can’t get more Can-con than that. Speaking of homegrown talent, Calgary’s Roman Danylo is going to be making people (maybe you) laugh over at The Comic Strip.

It’s a pretty good sports weekend here in the City of Champions. The Edmonton Capitals are taking on Calgary, and you can get another fix of fireworks after Friday’s game. There’s more baseball with the Edmonton Prospects. And the Edmonton Eskimos kick off their 2010 CFL season Sunday, against the B.C. Lions.

This afternoon, you’ve also got the Edmonton Oilers drafting their first-ever first overall NHL pick. The team is throwing together a party. Will it be Taylor or Tyler? (That sounds like the stunning conclusion on some teen drama.)

Hey, this Saturday is Bikeology, and we’ve never missed a Bikeology festival yet, here at the edmontonian. Alright, we’ve only had one to cover. But I plan on being there tomorrow, so that will make us 2/2.

FC Edmonton is playing. While I initially thought it was something to do with a Coca-Cola sponsorship, it turns out they will be taking on one of Chile’s best soccer teams, Colo-Colo. This could be the cure for your World Cup fever.

Nextfest has begun. It’s the annual celebration of young, youthful artists in Edmonton. There will be plays, dance, films, visual art, music and lots more. And it’s all from young, and up-and-coming Edmonton artists.

Pay attention, some of these names will be in arts and culture coverage for years to come. Plus, you can check things out right now and be able to say you saw so-and-so’s first show back in 2010.

This weekend also marks the beginning of the month-long Edmonton Community Challenge. 20 21 of Edmonton’s community leagues will be eating pancakes, cleaning neighbourhoods, fixing bikes, collecting food for the Food Bank and recyclables for YESS, and scavenging for photos, all to try and win $15,000 for a capital project in their community. I’ll be reporting more on this, from the front lines, as captain of the Strathcona Centre team.

It’s Movies on the Square time again! Tonight you can watch Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs on a giant screen in Churchill Square. Tomorrow it’s Alvin and the Chipmunks 2.

If you head to Naked on Jasper, Saturday night, you can support aspiring musicians, including one of our favourites, Lyra Brown. Lyra is also going to be playing Nextfest on Tuesday. See what I said about the best and brightest young stars?

The Late Night series is another way the ESO is trying to reach new audiences. They’ve got the Symphony Under the Sky in Hawrelak Park for the Labour Day weekend, matinees, pops, Broadway, kids’ shows, and the classics. A performance at 9:30 on a Friday night makes it feel like a real night on the town.

As the season winds down (it’s over in mid-June) I applaud the ESO for their versatile lineup and can’t wait for 2010-2011 to kick-off in the park.

If you don’t want to spend the evening at the Winspear Centre you can still make tonight about music.

Our old pal Jerrold Dubyk is playing this weekend. He’s got a show tonight, at 6:30, at Victoria School. Then The Jerrold Dubyk Quartet takes to the Haven Social Club stage Saturday night with Althea Cunningham and Dawn in the City.

Did somebody ask for a Dance-a-Thon? Good. Because Mile Zero Dance is doing just that, Saturday night. It starts at 7:30 and while it says it ends at 1:30 am, I hope it goes until the last dancer drops.

It could be a weekend of shopping for new things. You can swing by Make-It Edmonton! and buy some cool, handmade goods. If you quickly find yourself with buyer’s remorse you can get over to the Winspear and trade that stuff away at the Over the Top Swap, which also happens to be a spa for the day.

You can celebrate videogames with local podcast User Created Content. They’re throwing a 2nd birthday party Saturday. It starts at HiTech Gaming (15219 Stony Plain Road) and finishes at Union Hall (Argyll and 99 Street).

If you’re still in the gaming mood, Sunday sees the monthly GamePub over at Original Joe’s Varsity.

Edmonton’s own Ann Vriend is playing the Myer Horowitz Theatre Saturday night. She’s kind of a big deal.

They’re a blues-rock band out of Seattle, calling what they do “dirty rock.”

It sounds like straight-ahead bluesy rock to this guy, with fast fingers from Mr. Too Slim on lead guitar. And you know what, you need some of that every once and a while. It can’t all be screaming and metal and whatever the heck hipsters are listening to this week.